No Good Deed Goes Unappreciated
by Never-Rebel
Summary: At the end of GT, Piccolo was doomed to spend eternity in Hell, but not if Gokuu can help it... An answer to a question from Determination. Short. Simple.


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Disclaimer: _Don't own DB, DBZ or GT. And this is based off GT… somewhat. ^_^_

Title: No Good Deed Goes Unappreciated

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Series: Fits in with Determination and Another Life, tentatively put under **The Lord Rhoune Saga**.

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The first time he had made a rash decision he had ended up dead. Now, after another thoughtless choice, he had given up a blissful life in Heaven to return Gokuu to the living world. It was easy enough to be booted down into Hell, even the heart fusion he and Dende performed to create a rip between realms seemed relatively simple, but he wouldn't do it again. Not even for Gokuu. Piccolo was cursed to spend eternity in the place he was meant to rule as the Demon King. 

Except something seemed… wrong. He wasn't sure why, or what, was causing him to feel that way. Maybe it was because this was where all of _them_ lived. The Kold family, Cell, Brolli and –

"I've been waiting a long time for you, boy."

- his sire, Daimaou, Sr.. Piccolo turned to face the parent he had never known, a man that looked so much like Kami, yet at the same time didn't look like him. He knew of all of his coldhearted murders and could see his evil demeanor in the aged face.

"Oh?" Piccolo inquired, folding his arms.

"I'm quite disappointed in you," he said, "you were supposed to kill Gokuu, not fight alongside him."

Piccolo smirked. He didn't know why, but he was proud to have gone against his sire's wishes. Young Gohan was to blame for that. Silly kid.

"I did kill Gokuu. Along with his brother. Maybe you've seen him down here? Radditz, a little bigger than Gokuu, long hair…" Piccolo said sarcastically. Where was that attitude coming from?

"You disrespectful boy." Daimaou hissed.

"You're wasting my time, old man."

Piccolo walked by, leering at him.

"What's the rush?" Daimaou called. "You've got all eternity down here."

That was one reminder he could have done without. He kept walking. The confrontation with his sire lingered in his mind, but it had not been anything like he had imagined. It was brief and his feelings for him hadn't suddenly changed when they were face to face, he still held a deep spite and loathing of him. Still, his father – if he could be considered such – had told him what he had not wanted to hear. 

What was he going to do now? Take over Hell? Oddly, that idea didn't hold the same appeal that it once had. Piccolo admitted that he had gone a little soft – as much as he hated to acknowledge that - but something had changed. Drastically. 

He found a high plateau, overlooking a vast region of the barren, arid landscape and sat down to meditate.

--

A body blinked into sight, hovering uncertainly in the air. He looked around for Piccolo and found him; rather, he had found _a_ Piccolo. He had teleported to the wrong Piccolo; this was Daimaou, Sr.

"Oops," he mumbled.

In front of him, Daimaou's eyes went wide.

__

That's never happened before, he thought. Maybe Hell confused his senses because he certainly couldn't have mistaken Daimaou for Piccolo. Gokuu waved two fingers at Daimaou in greeting, pretending that he didn't notice the wild look in his eyes or the bared fangs.

"Hey, do you know where I can find Piccolo? Not you, because I wouldn't have to ask you where I could find you, ya know? The other Piccolo, your son, I guess," he explained, though not too coherently.

"You'll be dead soon, so it won't matter," Daimaou growled and lunged.

"Hey!" Gokuu said, stepping out of the way. "You've been down here for how long and you still want to kill me? That's kind of sad."

Daimaou pounced and, again, Gokuu moved out of the way. He stuck out his foot and tripped Daimaou so that he went sprawling on the heated ground.

"C'mon, now, do you know where Piccolo is or not?"

"Not!"

"Well then, that's all you had to say," Gokuu said, rose in the air and shot off.

It was difficult to concentrate. He could feel the ki's of all of the damned souls around him, but they were fuzzy and indistinct. It was frustrating. Gokuu closed his eyes, reaching for a familiar ki, touching over some that were obviously powerful. Now, which one was Piccolo's? One ki stood out. He recognized something about it no matter how unclear it was. He touched two fingers to his forehead and winked out of sight.

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A soft blue gi materialized in front of him. Piccolo gaped in surprise.

"Gokuu?"

"Hey, Piccolo," he greeted, grinning. "I had a little trouble finding ya."

"What are you doing here?" Piccolo asked, disbelief etched in his face.

"Looking for you," Gokuu said.

His antenna raised curiously. 

"Why?"

"Well, I don't think you really deserve to be here. And since you helped me get out, I figured the least I could do is return the favor," he said cheerfully. 

"Thanks, but I got myself down here," he said.

He didn't regret his decision, but he wondered if maybe he could have done something differently. Though, the prospect of getting out of this damned place was appealing, there was one slight problem: there was no way out.

"Well, yeah, but that's just because you wanted to save me. C'mon, put your hand on my shoulder," Gokuu instructed, waving him over.

Piccolo stared at him.

"C'mon," he urged.

"Gokuu… you can't just take me to the living world." 

"Oh, I can't go there. Shenlong won't let me," he explained, "I was gonna take us to Enma-Daioh."

"Wha-?" Piccolo asked.

Why did Shenlong dictate what Gokuu did? It didn't make any sense to him, but that was because he hadn't seen the dragon balls disappear into him, or then seen Gokuu himself disappear. 

"Just come on!"

It was absolutely ridiculous, but Piccolo had to admit that he would take even the smallest chance if he might be able to get out. So he stepped up to Gokuu and placed a clawed hand on his shoulder, noting how dirty his hands were from the biting air. The man grinned, put to fingers to his forehead and teleported them.

Then they were in a clean, cool room with a large desk before them and an even larger being sitting at it; there was a line of hazy souls behind them. Enma-Daioh's brows grew close in confusion, then pulled down further in annoyance.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Enma-Daioh demanded, nodding at Piccolo.

"I brought him," Gokuu answered. "See, he wanted to go… down there to help me and he, uh, really shouldn't have to stay down there. I mean, he was just trying to do some good."

Piccolo mentally winced. There were many things that Gokuu could not be, and a lawyer was one of them.

"Doing good, hmm?" Enma rumbled. "He destroyed an entire section of Heaven without a care!"

"But-"

"There was no one there," Piccolo said, realizing he would have to defend himself because, well, Gokuu couldn't.

"So that makes it right, does it? I think not. I don't care why you did what you did, but you still _did_ it. We do not have the manpower to spare to fix the destruction _you_ caused, Piccolo," Enma said.

"What if Piccolo fixes it? Then would you let him back in?" Gokuu asked.

"No. The fact still remains that he obliterated part of Heaven just so he could be sent down to Hell. He made his choice, Gokuu, and now he must accept it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have _work_ to do," he said gruffly and waved one of the smoky blobs forward.

"That really didn't go well, did it?" he asked sheepishly.

Piccolo gave him a sideways glance. 

"No, it didn't, but" he paused, trying to force the next words out through his discouragement, "… thank you for trying."

"Well, there's still one thing."

"What?" Piccolo stared at him, lips parted slightly. He could feel his hopes rise, just a little. There was still a chance left?

"Yeah, see, this old Kaio-shin did this… thing once, where he gave me his life. I could try. I mean, it can't be too hard, right?" Gokuu grinned.

Even though he liked the idea, he didn't like the thought of taking Gokuu's life. Piccolo shook his head, telling him that he couldn't accept that. He would just go back to Hell, suffer there for eternity and try not to get himself killed by old enemies.

"Oh don't worry, I'll be all right. I live with Shenlong now, remember?"

Piccolo didn't see the connection between Gokuu's life and the dragon; he couldn't wish himself back if he was dead. Gokuu stepped up in front of him and closed his eyes; he probably should have backed away, but he didn't. He had no where to go. A pale, yellow light began to radiate from the Saiyan in front of him, which became a brighter yellow, then shifted to white. Piccolo stared in amazement. He had seen them glow before when they went Super Saiyan, but somehow this was different. Then the white light leapt from Gokuu into him, penetrating his skin and instantly spreading through him with a brief jolt. Gokuu collapsed onto the ground, unmoving. 

"Go… kuu?" he said, unsure. 

He appeared unconscious, but gut feeling told him he was dead. Piccolo snorted. Leave it to Gokuu to do the impossible. A halo suddenly appeared over his head and his dark eyes opened; he smiled up at Piccolo.

"You're halo's gone," he noted.

Piccolo's hand touched over his head, feeling only air. He had never tried to touch his halo before, hadn't even considered that he had had one.

"…Thank you, Gokuu," he said again.

"No problem."

"Gokuu!" Enma-Daioh bellowed. They were still in his office.

"Yeah?" he replied, still grinning.

"What did you do?"

"Uhh…"

Unable to help himself, the corners of his lips turned up slightly.

"What now, Gokuu?" Piccolo asked.

"We go to Shenlong. He'll restore my life, I'll take you back to your, uh, waterfall, I guess and then I'll go back to Shenlong."

Piccolo nodded and placed a hand on Gokuu's shoulder again, still confused as to why he was talking as if he lived with the dragon. But, _does it really matter_? he wondered. No, not really. He didn't have to live in Hell any longer… not until he died again, anyway. Which he didn't intend to be any time soon.

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Author's Note – Halfway through the story I became somewhat uninspired to write it. Nevertheless, 'tis finally finished. Not up to the standards I had hoped for, though. *frowns* I just felt that this story needed to be told… since it's rather, err, unexplained in Determination and it's follow up (I'm hesitant to call it a sequel) Another Life: Return of the Fallen (shameless self-plugging there).

Remember to **review**! XD 


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